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Tag Archives: Jamaica

Moving on to the next Bond novel, Dr. No, I encounter the foundation for the popular conception of the Bond universe. Fleming’s sixth novel returns us to Jamaica but moves us away, somewhat, from the Cold War theme has framed all Bond’s major encounters to this point. As this is the first of the Bond novels to be made as a film, it is this story and Sean Connery that introduce the non-reading public to James.

Dr. No took a winding path from Fleming’s mind to page to screen, all the more so because it actually started out with the screen. In June of 1956, Ian Fleming began working with producer Henry Morgenthau III on a TV series. The series was to be called Commander Jamaica and would involve a Caribbean-based character, James Gunn, who would treat viewers to weekly Bondish exploits. The series failed to materialize. However, while From Russia, with Love was being readied for publication, Fleming returned to his Jamaican vacation spot and began work on his next novel. Getting a leg up on the creative process, he used the abandoned ideas from the TV series as the basis for his next work.

The decision to make this into a film was also somewhat accidental. Film producer Harry Saltzman had acquired the film rights for James Bond from Fleming but had not started projects. The, um, saltiness (or perhaps just the Britishness) of the stories tended to scare away studio interest. Albert Broccoli sought to purchase the dormant film rights but was rejected and instead a partnership deal was arranged between Saltzman and Broccoli. They selected Thunderball, Fleming’s eight novel, as their first project. The screenplay for Thunderball got tied up in legal wrangling and so Dr. No was chosen as a backup project and got funding from the studio. Saltzman and Broccoli brought director Terence Young on. Young decided to frame the film humorously as a way to get it past the censors; he reckoned that the film would have ratings trouble if it played the sexually-themed novel* too straight. This would be a key feature of all the Bond film campiness in the decades to come.

Unlike Bond’s previous enemies, the titular villain of this book is (mostly**) independent of the Russians and the international intrigue of the Cold War. Bond, himself, only becomes involved with the situation because his boss (M, as we Bond fans well know) wants to give him a light case while he is in recovery***. The British government misidentified a case of property-rights conflict between an industrialist and environmentalists, who have coexistent claims on the fictional island of Crab Key (between Jamaica and Cuba). The reader knows from the get-go, and Bond soon comes to understand as well, that said industrialist, known as Dr. No, is deadly serious about enforcing his rights. But before calling in the Navy, Bond decides both prove his suspicions and get the down-low on Dr. No.

Crab Key is the site of a guanery (guano mine) which was purchased by Dr. No when guano commodity prices were depressed. The island is subject to hot, dry wind which helps to preserve the nitrate content of the bird deposits on the island, making it an exceptional source for commercial guano relative to other Caribbean locations. On the same island is also a colony of a somewhat-threatened Caribbean species, the Rosate Spoonbill. The book identifies No’s birds as the Guanay Cormorant, the primary producer of Peruvian guano. Per my research, it is unlikely that this bird would be found in colonies near Jamaica or Cuba. More likely it would be another guano-producing bird such as the Booby (pro tip: don’t google “boobies” in polite company unless you filter your image searches). I can live with the inaccuracy, although I think Fleming missed out on a major opportunity by not featuring Boobies prominently in this story.

What Bond comes to find out, and this will risk ruining the story for you if you don’t know much about the Bond universe, is that Crab Key and the guano business was created as merely a cover for Dr. No’s greater designs. Simultaneously with upgrading and industrializing the guano production, No created a vast, underground fortress on the island. The details are remarkably similar to my recently-purchased Bond-villain management-sim Evil Genius. There is the secretive digging out of an underground lair. There is the imposition of wandering eco-tourists. Then, with the secret fortress built up, the mad scientist can embark upon greater, world-altering enterprise.

It probably goes without saying that the Bond version is more compelling as a story. There was no racing around the world advancing nefarious plots while the construction was ongoing. The underground fortress preceded the next phase of the plan, which for Dr. No consisted of interfering with U.S. missile tests in the Caribbean. His long-term intent was to have something he could sell to the Russians.

The novel doesn’t give specific date information but analysis has placed it in February and March of 1956. Naturally this being the first novel put to film, you would think that the differing timelines for book and film would be as close to each other as any, but you’d be wrong. What this neglects is that, as the films began to be made (Dr. No was a 1962 movie release), more novels were still being written. As the films did not take the novels in order, other movie releases were also in close proximity to their book’s publication date. Both Thunderball and You Only Live Twice were written only three years before they were each transferred to film. For Dr. No, the six-year delay in the story turned the Redstone missiles (and their actual testing difficulties that made it into the plot) into a manned Atlas/Mercury launch. By 1962, the Space Race was far more interesting than medium-range ballistic missile development. As before, I think the film sticking closer to the book’s plot is a factor in its success.

The novel, not intended to dodge the censors, takes itself far more seriously. A surprising element (for me) is that, being inside the mind of James Bond, we can see his human frailties. He wonders about his physical fitness and his level of alcohol consumption. He physically extends himself beyond what he thinks is possible. On film, our fourth-wall view of Bond leaves him at all times appearing competent, suave, and ready with a glib quip. Literary Bond isn’t as funny or charming but the combination of seriousness and psychology make for a much better story – and series.

I continue to toy with the Tropico 3 scenarios, and I’ve yet to crack open Tropico 4.

The latest scenario is based, very loosely, on Jamaica and its independence moves in the late 1950s and final decolonization in 1962. The key, says the scenario description, is to move away from the agricultural and raw materials markets that were controlled by Great Britain and develop a self-sufficient industrial economy. All the while, as is the key to the game, I try to stay in the right place in the middle of the Cold War politics going on around me.

Of course, as the victory conditions point out, my real goal is to stay in office through the duration of the game until 1980.

Trade has picked up and I have plenty of money. Now, if I can just get those construction workers to actually build something.

As the years advance into the 1960s, more of the game’s “color” becomes evident. Through radio broadcasts, I witness the Cuban missile crisis taking place nearby, as well as the crisis in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps because I’m getting a little better with the game, the Superpower interplay was also more evident this time around. Having secured an independence of sorts from the United Kingdom, I began courting the Soviets through my local Communist party. Although at one point I became a little too closely aligned with the Russians, I managed to shift the balance by allowing development by some U.S. -connected corporations.

I didn’t manage to anger either superpower sufficiently that they sent warships to my seas, nor did I need to align with either one for protection. I triggered (for the first time) a military conflict with a neighbor, but quickly dispatched them with some U.S. military support.

One might speculate about how many smaller countries have attempted to play such a political game, feigning alignment with communism or capitalism with absolutely know fundamental belief in the system, other than the aid and support that it will bring. Is it a reflection of the real world, or just a clever gameplay element.

Moving on to that Dominican Republic crisis, and a scenario that imagines the assassination of Trujillo took place some years earlier, triggering the installation of a communist-aligned government. As Soviet military aid begins building up on the island, the U.S. government decides it must rely on military force. The result far more detail of what it might look like when that U.S. fleet shows up in the harbor.

Time to send that Soviet equipment to the bottom of the Caribbean, where it belongs. Orange is Dominican ships and air, with the orange square in the lower left being the target of my operation.

This scenario has the player in the drivers seat. We are working with a carrier (plus escorts), a destroyer and a sub. Our task is to use a carrier strike to eliminate the Soviet equipment from our backyard. The primary goal is the airfield where Russian Migs and bombers are stationed. In addition to whatever advantages we have in force, we also have the element of surprise. We can initiate our attack at our leisure with little-to-no expectation that our presence will provoke a first response from the enemy. In the screen shot above, I’ve located what appears to be all of the enemy forces and am positioning my initial strike. I’ve also noticed that the Dominicans are out buzzing my ships and aircraft in waves, so I’d like to hit them when they’re at the end of their fuel.

This scenario has a lot going for it, and satisfies many of my earlier complaints. First of all, the what to do is pretty obvious. No need to spend days hunting for enemies that may or may not be there. Second is the operation from the position of strength. I have the numbers and decent assets, so I don’t feel that I need to solve a complex puzzle to avoid slaughter. Of course, even with all my advantages, I got creamed in the first play-through.

The scenario, at this point, also solved another complaint I’d had about CMANO scenarios. When I lost and lost big, it was glaringly obvious what I’d done wrong. And at the risk of ruining the scenario for my readers, I’ll tell you what I did. I ignored the third dimension, altitude. I left the altitude settings for all my aircraft at the default assuming, I guess, that the game could deal with it. Thus, all my bombing attacks were from high-altitude while the enemy delivered their bombs rocketing in a sea level, both evading radar and being impossible to intercept by that 36,000 ft patrol. Being so obvious what I did wrong, it became pretty easy to tweak my gameplay and vastly improve my performance in a restart.